The Geography of You and Me

The Geography of You and Me

by Jennifer E. Smith

Publishing Date: April 15th 2014

Publisher: Headline

ISBN: 1472206290

Received from: Headline Publishers via BookBridgr

Summery (From Back Cover) 

Owen Lives in the basement. Lucy lives on the 24th floor. But when the power goes out in the midst of a New York heatwave, they find themselves together for the first time: stuck in a lift between the 10th and 11th floors. As they await help, they start talking...The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland they can't shake the memory of the time they shared. Postcards cross the globe when they themselves can't, as Owen and Lucy experience the joy - and pain - of first love.And as they make their separate journeys in search of home, they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world. 

Review

This is my first Jennifer E. Smith book and as excited as I was to read The Geography of You and Me, I was also a little dubious. I'd heard some mix reviews, some saying it's the best thing since sliced bread, while others said it dragged on. And the strange thing? I think both opinions are correct. I really enjoyed this book but I'm not entirely sure anything actually happened. But I'm getting ahead of myself, lets start with the story.

Lucy, a sixteen-year-old rich New Yorker and Owen, the seventeen-year-old son of Lucy's building manager get trapped in an elevator when the power goes out in New York City. They're only stuck for a short period but that time was enough for them to catch each others attention and they end up spending the rest of the evening walking around a powerless city, eating melted ice-cream and staring up at the stars. It almost seems too perfect and when the power comes back on their lives start to take them in opposite directions. But Lucy and Owen can't shake each other. They refuse to let the other go. Can they make the whole long distance thing work? Were they ever meant to be more than just friends? And is one night really enough to base a relationship on?

"The map was as good as a door swinging shut. And the geography of the thing - the geography of them - was completely and hopelessly wrong."

If you're not one for romance heavy books then you probably won't like this. The whole focus of The Geography of You and Me is how and if Lucy and Owen can be together. It's so sweet it will give you tooth ache. But isn't that what summer reading is all about? The conversations between our two lovestruck teens are adorable, sarcy and put a smile on my face almost instantly. Lucy wants to see the world, she wants to wander Europe and be free, while Owen has this innate sense of responsibility towards his father. Everything is against these two, and I think that's what makes it all the most endearing.

I had a couple of issues with the whole changing location part of the book - which seems ridiculous being as it's the whole point of the story - but there you go. I just found that because there was such a big gap between each chapter (time frame wise) that the story itself felt a little choppy. Also, while I'm nit-picking, I struggled with the third person point of view. It got confusing at times, and I'd forget who I was meant to be reading from. I think it would have worked better in first person as we would have gotten two distinct voices and I feel it would have made it easier to follow. But as I said before, I'm nit-picking!

You'll either be a lover or a hater of this book. It's subtle and not one to skim through as you'll miss all the little things. Jennifer E. Smith is a literary goddess when it comes to adding in the details, and it was really clever the way in which both Lucy and Owen's thoughts crossed over throughout different sections of the book. And things one did at the beginning the other mirrored towards the end, adding yet another layer of sweetness to this little love story. It's not a life changing novel, but it is the perfect easy read for the upcoming summer. I fully recommend it to all you contemporary lovers out there and I hope you enjoy it.

"Even before he flipped it over to find the note, he was thinking the very same thing: that he wished more than anything she was here, too. And just like that, his heart - that dead thing inside of him - came to life again."

**I received this book as an ARC from Headline & BookBridgr to read and review. This is a 100% honest review**

Now, to switch things up a little we have a second review from the lovely Sam over at The Book Corner. You can find this review on her blog, but if you haven't read it yet then here you go. No need to thank me, I just love spoiling you! Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Although I have another book by Jennifer E Smith sitting on my bookshelf I have not yet read it. So this was my first encounter with this author. There has been a lot of hype surrounding this book on Twitter and Booktube and I was expecting great. 

The story idea is a good one, Lucy and Owen both live in New York in the same apartment block, one day the city loses power and they both happen to get stuck in a lift together. They begin to talk to help pass the time until someone comes to rescue them. After this night they have both left lasting impressions on each other. As their lives take them down different paths, they find themselves in opposite directions of the globe. 

On visiting a new place they send each other postcards keeping in touch, a small joke between them that was started after that fateful night. 

We follow Owen and Lucy as they move from city to city - something that I particularly enjoyed reading about as a keen traveler myself this appealed to me. The description of the cities was excellent and the book flowed well. 

I would say that at times I thought the book was moving a little slowly and a chunk in the middle felt like not a lot happened. I found that the story picked up again around part 3 and really enjoyed the book from this point. 

The story is told from both Lucy and Owen's point of view and we learn bits about their family from their own perspective. I particularly enjoyed reading Lucy and knowing more about her life. I felt sorry for her at times that she was always left at home while her parents went off traveling without her. I also feel that the relationship Lucy had with her mum was very real, and a mistake like not asking a question can dramatically change things. If only Lucy had asked to be taken away maybe she would have been.

I didn't feel like I connected as well with Owen and his family, there were times when I really enjoyed reading about him, especially with his dad but I found him a bit depressing, a lot of the time he would be down about his mum and didn't seem to ever have anything to look forward to, this was until I would say getting into part 3 of the book and this is where I began to enjoy his character more. 

The story is a sweet one, but not a massive page turner for me. This gives you hope and faith that long distance relationships can work if you want them to. 

Overall I did enjoy the book, it was not taxing and quite a light read. I did not find that it gripped me but I loved to read about places in the world to visit and I liked the idea of how a long distance relationship like this could work.  

Friday Finds #3

Friday Finds is a weekly post the tells you lovelies about some of the books I've found this week. Whether it be an ARC, a classic or anything in between; these are books I've discovered over the past 7 days.

If I Stay
by Gayle Forman

I open my eyes wide now. 

I sit up as much as I can. 

And I listen. 

Stay, he says. 

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

The Geography of You and Me
by Jennifer E. Smith

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too. 

Thoughts

I'm supper excited for If I Stay! It's one of those books that I've heard so much about but have never actually gotten around to reading it. I was worried that it was going to be a little bit like The Lovely Bones but after watching the trailer - which was released this week - I don't know why I was dubious! I mean, if the movie looks good imagine how epic the book must be? I have a feeling I'm setting myself up for a fall, but I'm so excited to read this! I bought a copy the second I finished watching the trailer.

Just two books this week and I don't know which one I'm more excited about! The Geography of You and Me came out a couple of days ago and I was sent a copy from the publisher - it's sitting my my desk screaming at me to pick it up. I'm hoping to get around to this next week so expect the review really soon, and until then check out our release day blast by CLICKING HERE. Jennifer E. Smith is such an amazing contemporary writer and if you haven't already gotten a copy of You and Me then what are you waiting for? Seriously! GO!

RELEASE DAY - The Geography of You and Me

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

It's RELEASE DAY for

The Geography of You and Me

by Jennifer E. Smith

The Geography of You and Me
by Jennifer E. Smith
YA Contemporary Romance
April 15th 2014 by Little, Brown for Young Readers

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

Amazon *  Barnes & Noble * Book Depository

Did you miss any of the excerpts we shared on our tour? 

You can go back and read chapter one in its entirety, but here are some snippets:

Tour Launch

The two main characters, Lucy and Owen, from The Geography of You and Me first meet in New York, but then keep in contact from different places around the world before meeting up in New York again.

The author, Jennifer E. Smith, shared some of her favorite places in the world in preparation of Geography's release. We'd like to re-share them with you!

A Backwards Story - Chapter One, Part 1

On the first day of September, the world went dark.

But from where she stood in the blackness, her back pressed against the brassy wall of an elevator, Lucy Patterson had no way of knowing the scope of it yet.

Literary Meanderings - Chapter One, Part 2

When the elevator had wrenched to a stop, their eyes met, and in spite of the situation, she’d found herself wondering—ridiculously—whether he recognized her, too. But then the lights above them had snapped off, and they were both left blinking into the darkness, the floor still quivering beneath them. There were a few metallic sounds from above—two loud clanks followed by a sharp bang—and then something seemed to settle, and except for the faint beat of his music, it was silent.

Book Briefs - Chapter One, Part 3

The boy turned to face her, and though it was still too dark for details, she could see him more clearly with each minute that passed. She was reminded of a science experiment her class did in fifth grade, where the teacher dropped a mint into each of the students’ cupped palms, then switched off the lights and told them to bite down hard, and a series of tiny sparks lit up the room. This was how he seemed to her now: his teeth flashing when he spoke, the whites of his eyes bright against the blackness.

A Life Bound By Books - Chapter One, Part 4

“I think we’ll be fine,” he said, his voice reassuring; then, with a hint of amusement, he added: “Unless, of course, you’re afraid of the dark.”

“I’m okay,” she said, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, her elbows resting on her knees. She attempted a smile, which emerged a little wobbly. “I’ve heard monsters prefer closets to elevators.”

The Reading Diaries - Chapter One, Part 5

This time she laughed. “What’s up there, anyway?”

“The sky.”

“You’ve got keys to the sky?” she said, and he knitted his fingers together, lifting his arms above his head in a stretch.

“It’s how I impress all the girls I meet in the elevator.”

Colorimetry - Chapter One, Part 6

“I know. Hard to believe school starts tomorrow.”

“Yeah, for me, too,” he said. “Assuming we ever get out of here.”

“Where do you go?”

“Probably not the same place as you.”

“Well, I hope not,” she said with a grin. “Mine’s all girls.”

The Wonderings of One Person - Chapter One, Part 7

He considered this a moment. “Yup,” he said finally. “That pretty much sums up my feelings about New York.”

Lucy nodded. “You would prefer not to,” she said. “But that’s just because it’s new. Once you get to know it more, I have a feeling you’ll like it here.”

“Is this the part where you insist on taking me on a tour of the city, and we laugh and point at all the famous sights, and then I buy an I ♥ NY T-shirt and live happily ever after?”

“The T-shirt is optional,” she told him.

Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf - Chapter One, Part 8

His eyes caught hers through the darkness, and the elevator felt suddenly smaller than it had just minutes before. Lucy thought of all the other times she’d been crammed in here over the years: with women in fur coats and men in expensive suits; with little white dogs on pink leashes and doormen wheeling heavy boxes on luggage carts. She’d once spilled an entire container of orange juice on the carpet right where Owen was sitting, which had made the whole place stink for days, and another time, when she was little, she’d drawn her name in green marker on the wall, much to her mother’s dismay.

I Am A Reader - Chapter One, Part 9

Across the elevator, Owen rested his head against the wall. “It is what it is…” he murmured, letting the words trail off at the end.

“I hate that expression,” Lucy said, a bit more forcefully than intended. “Nothing is what it is. Things are always changing. They can always get better.”

Bookfever - Chapter One, Part 10

“It won’t help anything,” she said. “Worrying.”

“Exactly,” he said. “It is what it is.”

“Nope,” she said. “Nothing is what it is.”

“Fine,” he said. “It’s not what it isn’t.”

Lucy gave him a long look. “I have no idea what you’re saying.”

“Or maybe you’d just prefer not to,” he said, sitting forward, and they both laughed. The darkness between them felt suddenly thin, flimsy as tissue paper and even less substantial. His eyes shone through the blackness as the silence stretched between them, and when he finally broke it, his voice was choked.

You'll have to find out what happens between Lucy and Owen by grabbing a copy.

Jennifer E. Smith is the author of This Is What Happy Looks Like, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Storm Makers, You Are Here, and The Comeback Season. She earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and currently works as an editor in New York City. Her work has been translated into 27 languages, and her next young adult novel, The Geography of You and Me, will be out in Spring 2014.

Website * Goodreads * Twitter * Tumblr

Tour-Wide Giveaway

- Hardcover copy of The Geography of You and Me
- ebook copy of The Geography of You and Me
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- April 8 - 22

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